Natural Marvels, Soothing Luxury

Botswana’s Okavango Delta, a world-unique oasis of smoothly meandering waterways, lagoons bubbling with hippos, idyllic minisavannah islands, the “most unexpected of wonders,” as Frans Lanting wrote, “water in the desert,” gently pulsing water that brings life to a dazzling population of wildlife. Victoria Falls, Mosi-oa-Tunya, “The Smoke That Thunders,” far and away the planet’s grandest waterfall—as we like to say, one of the planet’s grandest anythings— brimming with “scenes so lovely [they] must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight,” rhapsodized David Livingstone, the first outsider to succumb to the Falls’ immense charisma. And not far from the colossal cascade, Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park’s archetypal African landscapes, roamed in natural freedom by the fabled Big Five and five score other mammals and 20 score colourful avians, making Hwange one of the continent’s finest game-viewing, traveller-enchanting destinations.

Highlights

• Two invariably amazing nights in the miraculous Okavango Delta, exploring its waterways and nearby plains, marveling at its bountiful, varietal wildlife.
• The set-piece, animal-attracting, bubbling-with-hippos lagoon at Khwai Private Reserve’s Sable Alley camp.
• Exploring the Delta’s varied landscapes on foot and in 4wheel drive vehicles, and gliding in profound peace through its intricately lovely waterways.
• Eventful visits to animal-thronged waterholes in Zimbabwe’s classically African Hwange National Park.
• Based from the lovely Thorntree River Lodge, a fully engaged encounter with the world-marvelous Victoria Falls, on guided walks to its many viewpoints, on a sunset cruise on the Zambezi River as it prepares for its plunge, on a thrilling helicopter flight, and at high tea on the veranda of the colonial era Victoria Falls Hotel.